Journal of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia Winter 2019 Volume 42, No. 4 Editor, Michael Brown Emeritus Professor, University of Wyoming Editorial & Publications Coordinator, Allison Hunter-Frederick AHSGR Headquarters, Lincoln, Nebraska EDITORIAL BOARD Michael Brown Timothy J. Kloberdanz Emeritus Professor, University of Wyoming Professor Emeritus North Dakota State University, Laramie, WY Fargo, ND Robert Chesney J. Otto Pohl Cedarburg, Wisconsin Laguna Woods, CA Irmgard Hein Ellingson Dona Reeves Marquardt Bukovina Society, Ellis, KA Arofessor Emerita at Texas State University Austin, TX Velma Jesser Retired Educator Eric J. Schmaltz Calico Consulting, Las Cruces, NM Northwestern Oklahoma State University Alva, OK William Keel University of Kansas, Lawrence, KA Jerome Siebert Moraga, California Mission Statements The American Historical Society of Germans from Russia is an international organization whose mission is to discover, collect, perserve, and share the history, cultural heritage, and genealogical legacy of German settlers in the Russian Empire. The International Foundation of American Historical Society of Germans from Russia is responsible for exercising financial stewardship to generate, manage, and allocate resources which advance the mission and assist in securing the future of AHSGR. Cover Illustration Catholic church in the Village of Obermonjou. Photo provided by Olga Litzenburg. To learn more, see page 1. Contents Christmas in the German Villages on the Volga—and a Special Christmas Carol By Richard Kisling .............................................................................................................................................. 1 Obermonjou By Olga Litzenberger, Ph.D ............................................................................................................................ 10 The Happiest Person in the World By Shannon Bickford........................................................................................................................................ 22 The Wulf Family By Olga Lomova .................................................................................................................................................. 23 Finding German Russians in Kazakhstan By Michael Brown, Ph.D, Askhat Yerkimbay, and Zarina Buyenbayeva ...................................................... 25 Russian German History and Heroic, Victim, and Redemptive Narratives, Part Two By Otto Pohl, Ph.D ........................................................................................................................................... 31 The Journal of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia is published by AHSGR. The Journal welcomes the submission of articles, essays, family histories, anecdotes, folklore, book reviews, and items regarding all aspects of the lives of Germans in or from Russia. All submissions are subject to review by the Editorial Board. Manuscripts should be typed, double-spaced with endnotes. Submit an electronic copy of the article by email attachment or mail a compact disc or flash drive containing a copy of the computer file. We can accept IBM-compatible Microsoft Word™ files. Our style guide is The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th Edition (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003), and translations follow the Transliteration Standards approved by the Library of Congress and the American Library Association, which can be reviewed on the Internet at http://lcweb.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/roman.html. Please indicate in your email or cover letter whether you have photos or illustrations to accompany your article. Photos or illustrations sent on disc should be in JPEG format. Unless you instruct us otherwise, submissions not published in the Journal will be added to the AHSGR Archives. Members of the Society receive the AHSGR Journal, Newsletter and surname exchange publication Clues. Members may also qualify for discounts on books, published historical records, maps and other materials available for purchase from the AHSGR Bookstore; search of Societal records for historical and genealogical research purposes; and, German and Russian translation services. Membership categories and annual dues are: Standard, $50; Sustaining, $100; and Supporting Organization, $50. Individual Life Memberships are: $1,050, ages 26-40; $900, ages 41-55; and $750, ages 56 and older (with option to be paid in five equal installments). Junior Memberships are: Youth (under 15 years) $8; and Student (15-24 years) $15.For information on how to become a member of the Society contact AHSGR by visiting our website at www.ahsgr.org, or use the address, telephone number or email address shown below. Because AHSGR is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, donations beyond the basic dues of Sustaining/Contributing members are tax deductible as allowed by law. The International Foundation of AHSGR (IFAHSGR) is a non-profit 501(c)3 corporation that is the fund-raising arm of AHSGR. IFAHSGR accepts monetary gifts, bequests, securities, memorial gifts, trusts, and other donations. Checks may be written to either IFAHSGR or AHSGR and will be used wherever designated. The two main funds are the General Operating Fund of the Society and the Endowment Fund of the Foundation. The General Operating Fund is used to help defray the day-to-day operating expenses of the Society. Endowment Fund gifts are permanently invested and earnings are made available for the general operation of the Society. You also may support a specific project or activity, such as Russian Archives Retrieval, Publications, the Library, Folklore, or Membership Recruitment. Designate where you want the money spent or invested. Every dollar is used to carry out the mission of AHSGR. Donations are tax deductible as allowed by law. For more details about submitting materials for publication, becoming a Society member, or to make contributions, contact the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia using the information below. Opinions and statements of fact expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Society, the Foundation, the Editor, or members of the Editorial Board, who assume no responsibility for statements made by contributors. Published by: 631 D Street • Lincoln, NE 68502-1149 • Phone 402-474-3363 • Fax 402-474-7229 • E-mail [email protected] Website www.ahsgr.org © Copyright 2019 by the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A. ISSN 0162-8283 Christmas in the German Villages on the Volga —and a Special Christmas Carol By Richard Kisling Following are a short life sketch of Pastor Johannes able to return to Saratov in 1917, where he participated Schleuning, the translation of a piece he wrote in in the Volga German Congress, which sought national 1954 describing Christmas celebrations among the determination, and then he began publication of the Volga Germans, and information about a Christmas “Saratower Deutsche Volkszeitung,” the first German- carol that Schleuning says originated with the Volga language newspaper in Russia permitted after the war. Germans. The “Volkszeitung” enjoyed a wide circulation among Russian Germans for six months until it ceased pub- lication after the victory of the Bolsheviks. Biographical Profile of Johannes Schleuning In May 1918, he returned to Germany. In 1920, he Johannes Schleuning was born January 27, 1879, in founded the Verein der Wolgadeutschen (Association the village Neu-Norka in the Volga region and died September 7, 1961, in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony, Federal Republic of Germany. He was a pastor in the German Evangelical Church for much of his life, and he was also an activist who believed that the German Russians were a unique people whose distinct identity should be maintained. His studies at the Lutheran Seminary at the university in Dorpat (Tartu, Estonia, today) were interrupted by the 1905 revolution in Russia, and he, like many stu- dents, was relocated to Germany. Schleuning studied in Greifswald (which is still a university town in mod- ern Mecklenburg-Vorpommern) and he visited Berlin. This was his first exposure to the “old homeland.” It was here that he was destined to live most of his life. He returned to Russia in 1908 and served as assis- tant pastor in Tiflis, Georgia. He became concerned about Russification among the local Germans and he established a Deutscher Verein (German Society) with activities intended to preserve German culture, and he assumed leadership of a monthly newspaper, “Die Kaukasische Post,” for which he hired editors from the German Empire. But in Russia at the beginning of World War I the programs at the Verein and some of the views expressed in the newspaper were deemed “Johannes Schleuning and his family in Siberia”: frontispiece “support for the enemy,” and in October 1914, the to Schleuning’s book, Mein Leben hat ein Ziel, published in Russian government banished him to Siberia. He was Berlin in 1922 AHSGR Winter Journal 2019 1 of Volga Germans) in Berlin which published a month- Christmas in the German Villages on ly magazine, the “Wolgadeutsche Monatshefte” from the Volga 1922–1925. In the famine year 1921, he responded to a call from the National Lutheran Council in the United States, where for sixteen months he preached Originally published as “Weihnachten in den hessischen Dörfern an der Wolga,” Heimatbuch der Ostumsiedler, in twelve mid-western and western states, calling for 1954, pages 88–89